Beyond 30: The Next Chapters

The other night I had a dream so profound that it shaped my entire path forward.  For the last six weeks, I've spent literally all of my downtime job hunting, soul searching to pinpoint what it was that I wanted to do next, what was important to me, and how I was going to be intentional about making my own happiness a priority. And it was then that inspiration struck as it so often does in the middle of the night: I was going to write a book.  I've entertained this notion dozens of times over the years. The first time I tried to earnestly write a book was about ten years ago, some couple hundred pages still sitting idly on my hard drive. Every now and again, I'll pick up where I left off only to lose sight of my goal with that story, trying to figure out what my main character would be doing now. Maybe that book will never be finished.  But this one might.  The story seemed so clear now, so obvious. They say that you should write what you know and what you like and w...

This is just bullshit Why is the system so rigged Fuck all of this shit It is so easy to feel discouraged. Over the last (nearly) six weeks, I have submitted countless resumes and cover letters, reached out to goodness knows how many employers, had multiple interviews that led nowhere. The constant barrage of job listings, hoops I have to jump through...it's just too much. Recently, I'd had two promising interviews with a real estate company that checked all the boxes: good pay, hours, benefits, location. They'd asked me back for a third and final working interview, one where I'd be paid for my time, and they would be making the final decision to see if I was a good fit for their team. And then they just stopped. I called and emailed multiple times and they gave me absolutely no response whatsoever.  I was fucking ghosted by a company.  In the wake of the #GreatResignation, I find myself increasingly at odds with American work culture,  looking back on my previous work ...

It's a bit of irony in the wake of the #GreatResignation that I spend all of my days lamenting both my lack of job and lack of income. I have always worked. Growing up in my grandparent's restaurant, both figuratively and literally, the importance of a strong work ethic was instilled in me from the time I was big enough to carry a bus tray, old enough to take a drink order, or competent enough to cash someone out at the till. Working has always been a central part of my identity. I have never not worked.  Don't you think it's some kind of bullshit that a person's entire character is revolved around working, that dreadful thing that we're all conned into believing is part of the American dream; that if you work hard enough, you too can spend fifty years of your life and forty hours a week earning money for someone else's bottom line only to eventually retire with your laurels marginally intact and your relationships reduced to catching up twice a year over ...